
Early evening on the Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur and the stage was set for an exciting, first ever match at the brand new Allianz Riviera stadium. The stadium, not far from St Tropez, can hold up to 35,624 people, and is the new home for Nice Football Club after moving from their old stadium in the Northern quarters of Nice - the Stade Municipal du Ray. One of the main reasons for the project was to be part of France's bid to host UEFA Euro 2016 Championships, which was successful.
The first team to visit Nice in their new amphitheatre was Valenciennes FC from Northern France. The starting line-ups, announced shortly before kick off were as follows:
OGC Nice : Ospina - Puel, Bodmer, Pejcinovic, Kolodziejczak - Digard (cap.), Mendy - Abriel, Brüls, Bauthéac - Cvitanich
Subs : Palun, Amavi, Gomis, Genevois, Albert, Bosetti, Hassen
Valenciennes : Penneteau (cap.) – Lala, Rose, Angoua, Mater – Enza Yamissi, Doumbia, Saez – Nguette, Pujol, Melikson
Subs : Ciss, Chitu, Kagelmacher, Ducourtioux, Dossevi, Le Tallec, Novaes